Sunday, May 31, 2009

This week I had started this painting before I saw the topic for Illustration Friday and was very happy that I could 'Adapt' the meaning to suit the topic. In more ways than one. I was inspired to do this painting whilst driving home the other day. It is Autumn actually almost Winter here in Australia and I've said it before I just LOVE the autumn leaves and colours this time of year. As I drove home I saw this tree that was blowing in the wind and there were loads of leaves just falling off it, it looked like it was raining leaves. Very beautiful. Every year I forget how cold it will be in the winter as it is soooo hot in the summer, but each year I just seem to adapt and really enjoy each season. This painting was done on canvas in acrylic paint which I'm really enjoying at the moment. The canvas is slightly bigger than A4 so it cut a little off the tree at the top when I scanned it in. Tomorrow I'm going to experiment for the first time with my new oil paints!!! Yay!!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Some day her Prince will come, or perhaps she’ll finally be recognized for what she’s really good at and land that dream job? Maybe some day she’ll be able to read a book uninterrupted or just be able to sleep in late……whatever it is she looks very happy about it!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

This is a piece that I worked on a fair bit this week. I started off with what I thought would be a simple idea and it then turned into something a lot more involved. The initial idea came from the prompt for next week's Mixed Media Monday. The prompt is 'layers'. So I came up with an idea that saw me use different techniques and some collage. I sketched a simple out line from a photograph of my two boys. Then I shaded it and coloured it with coloured pencil. I cut it out and stuck it onto watercolour paper. Then painted the back ground in arcylic paint. I also painted the leaves then cut them out and stuck them on. When I finished I realised that the pencil was just too faint against the paint so I took a chance and painted over the drawing with acrylic so it really is quite a mixture of materials. I quite like the end result considering it's my first real attempt at painting portraits in acrylic and also using mixed media in this way. I have put a photo up of the painting before I painted over the drawing and after so that you can see the difference. I'm looking forward to submitting this to Mixed Media Monday next week, it's not often I'm this organised!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

This week the theme is 'Cracked'. I had two ideas come to mind for my entry and decided upon this little one. I used my more expensive water colour paper for this one and have decided from now on I'm going to just buy the nice stuff. The paint just seems to go on better when I use the more expensive paper and the end product to me looks so much more polished. I really like how the paint looks on this paper, the skin just looks so much better than on the cheaper stuff. I also refrained from using the black out line pen to finish this off as I've bought a very fine brush and I thought I'd see how it looked without the pen. I think it looks a lot softer and I prefer it just with the paint. Perhaps this is how I'm going to work from now on it's funny I never thought I wouldn't want to use the pen as it didn't seem finished unless I'd out lined it in the past but with the brush I think that's enough. It's also the first time I have written/painted the text on and I quite like it.

Friday, May 22, 2009

This week I managed to get back into the swing of painting. With visitors, birthday parties and the flu things have beena little chaotic here. I didn't realise just how much I would miss my daily drawing or painting sessions until now. I felt completely out of whack by the end of the week after not drawing much at all. It was nice to have visitors though and Rhys had a great birthday but now I'm very happy to be back to 'work'.

I managed a couple of painting this week. The first one I did was 'Dreaming' which was basically a doodle. I just played around with the acrylic paint and put an idea down on to paper. I'm going to do a canvas painting for a friend's daughter so decided to practice a few ideas. I would like to do more on good quality water colour paper too as I think it just makes such a difference. So perhaps my next session will include something on my very special paper. The second painting I did was 'Disco Diva's' I just started with a doodle again and this is what happened. I really like this one and could see it becoming a design for an invite or a card. It's quite a fun picture!!!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

This weeks prompt on Illustration Friday is 'Contagious' and for the first time ever I've actually had something already that is perfect to use for it. This piece I did about 8 months or so ago now when I started playing around with painting again but it's still one of my favourites. The pictures are supposed to go side by side with each other so that the doctor is shining the torch into poor little Ruby the hippo's mouth. I really like how the mouth came out in this pic and I've actually posted the first picture before, it was my very first picture I posted when I started my blog. This was done in acrylic paint. If I were to paint this again I'd probably try to make my hippos a little less like teddy bears. I still like them though.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Well I actually did it, I wasn't sure I'd get to do an entry this week as I've had the flu really badly so have been sitting here feeling very sorry for myself. But I managed to sketch out an idea before the fever really set in and so because I liked it so much I made sure I finished it. It probably could have been a bit tidier but I'm quite pleased with it. The prompt for Illustration Friday this week was 'Parade' and ants came to mind as you often see them marching in a very well organised line. I thought it would be nice to make them kind of like a carnival or marching band. Even though I was sick I quite enjoyed this theme and was glad I could finish it.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

I bought 3 different shaped canvas' at a sale the other day and decided to do a small series of paintings which are based on pictures that I have done either for Illustration FridayMixed Media Monday or just doodles in my diary in the past. I've been thinking of painting some pictures for nieces and friends kids for their birthdays this year so thought I would have a look at how they might turn out and find out which designs are best suited. The mermaid taken from the Mixed Media Monday piece I did a few weeks ago. I'm thinking of scanning this one in and making it somehow into a book mark. I'll have a play around with it a bit more I think as I like this design. The Princess is one that started from a doodle in my diary as I was watching 'Merlin' on the tele the other night with my little boy. The second painting is done in acrylic but I also used the flow improver which makes the paint smoother and more watery without loosing the colours. I'm quite happy with them both and didn't want to wait until I could get my hands on the scanner so I took a pic, it'll be interesting to see how they look when they are scanned in as I think they have come up nice in the photo.

Monday, May 4, 2009

This weeks prompt for Mixed Media Monday is 'Inspirational Words'. I chose 'Blossom'. Even though I'm my own worst critic I felt that 'Blossom' best describes how I feel about my art at the moment. I've been painting and drawing again for the last 8 months or so after a very long break and I have to say I don't think I've ever been as creative as I am now or motivated. Especially since I discovered websites like Mixed Media Monday and Illustration Friday. Having these prompts each week has really got my creative juices flowing and I'm loving it. Although everytime I'm working on something new at the beginning I'm loving it but by the end I'm questioning it and not sure if I like it anymore. Ah well I guess that's normal hey? I created this piece on watercolour paper, with acrylic paint, news paper and ink. I even experimented with using a different tool to put the paint on as I wanted to experiment with texture. So I ended up smoothing the paint on with a flat plastic tool. I think I like this painting it is quite different from my other work and I think I'd like to do more like this.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Sometimes my hubby and I start to question the Hierarchy in our house! Our two year old Riley is certainly well and truly into his terrible twos and between him and his big brother we feel that sometimes we are just running around in circles after them! I wouldn't however change them for the world but I have to admit, when they are both tucked up in bed at night I relish the silence til around 6am the next morning.

This is my first attempt at mixed media with some text. I drew the figures onto the black paper that I have been experimenting with. I then cut them out and figured out how I wanted them arranged onto the water colour paper. Then I painted them in acrylic and went over some parts in ink as the features needed to be more defined. Then I painted the back ground with acrylic inks and also found some words that I felt went with the idea behind the piece. I really had fun doing this one and enjoyed experimenting yet again. I'm really loving trying new things especially mixed media as things always turn out much more differently than I imagine.

Yesterday I bought a black drawing pad, only A5 size as I wasn't sure whether I would like it or not. I had a great time experimenting, I tried coloured pencils but found that the acrylic paint was best. It really made me approach the painting differently as the black paper makes the paint slightly different as well as the fact that I had to paint in the white space such as the eyes and highlights. I really enjoyed it plus I ended up just using the paints and brush without the pen outline and i like the look of it. I think I'll be using this paper again, perhaps in a mixed media piece?

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About Me

I am an aspiring artist/illustrator who has a passion for children's book illustration. Recently I have found myself drawn to mixed media and now I'm discovering a whole new world of art that I've never tried before, I'm also making jewellery now some pendants are made from prints of original pieces and others are made from Japanese paper. I would love to learn more about jewellery making. Apart from being creative I'm also mum of two who recently decided that life is too short to dream about what you want to do, you just need to do it. I'm learning how to balance my creative time with two very energetic young boys and feel that I am finally taking baby steps to my dream but at least it's a start!